By Allison Zullo
This summer, I am interning at PR Newswire, a press release distribution company, in their downtown Cleveland office. Essentially, when it comes to distributing information in the form of press releases (in traditional and multimedia form), PRN is the liaison between companies and the public. Seems simple enough, right? Well, it turns out that PRN does a whole lot more than just distribute press releases.
The main reason I was interested in the internship was because of its educational nature; with this being my first internship, I wanted to learn as much as I could about the public relations industry. However, what I didn’t realize was how much I would learn about all that PR Newswire does, in addition to the press release distribution industry.
Though one day is never really like the next, here is a typical day in the life of a PR Newswire intern:
8-8:30 a.m.: Arrive, check email, chug coffee, etc. Commuting to Cleveland every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday means waking up at 6 a.m. for the hour drive downtown in stop-and-go traffic. It also means drinking LOTS of coffee in order to make it until 5!
8:30-9 a.m.: Morning meeting. This is where the five interns meet with our contact in the department that we will be shadowing that day. These departments vary greatly, from sales to those who actually distribute the releases, since PRN provides such a wide variety of products and services. We talk about what we will be doing that day as well as go over what we did the previous day or week.
9 a.m.-noon: Shadowing or project time. Depending on the day, during these three hours, we either shadow or learn from a professional in the department of the week. We are also given time to work on our final project, which involves a presentation based on research each intern has done on three different social media sites.
Noon-1 p.m.: LUNCH! Though we are split into two different groups during the day, all of the interns have the same lunch hour, which gives us time to catch up and talk about our day so far and about our favorite place in the whole world: Athens! In addition to about half of the office, we’re all Bobcats, which only goes to show how great the Bobcat network is.
1 p.m.-5 p.m.: More shadowing and/or project time. In addition to shadowing and preparing for our final presentation at the end of our internship, we also have a few more weekly projects. Each intern is responsible for curating content for both PR Newswire’s Tumblr account and various Twitter handles, as well as writing a weekly blog post about our experiences as an intern.
And after that nine-hour day brings another hour (or hour and a half…) commute back home. I have learned so much so far, not only about PR Newswire, but also about what I eventually want to do with my life. I’ve also met some pretty awesome fellow Bobcats and had my first experience in a real-life office (with my own desk and everything!). Even though no day is similar to the next, I’m still loving every single minute of my time as an intern at PR Newswire!
Follow Allison on Twitter: @allisonzullo
Tagged: Cleveland, Internships, PR Newswire, Public Relations
